HTC U12 + review: good smartphone with stockings



[ad_1]

The HTC U12 + is the first and only flagship product of the brand in 2018. Is this enough to enhance the company's reputation?

HTC U12 +

We were looking forward to this device and perhaps for traffic reasons. HTC is in the corner where the blows fall and things go wrong with the business. Many bad choices have made HTC lose a lot of customers.

The HTC U12 + will be the only flagship of this year. Unlike previous years where one after the other lighthouse came out. If you bought the HTC U11 as a user, an "over" version came out soon after. You did not know where you were. That's why HTC has made it clear during the launch of the HTC U12 + that it will be the only flagship of this year.

 HTC U12 + "src =" https://cdn3.androidworld.nl/1cf1425064/media/ thumbnails / 28 / f9 / 28f913e0e6c321ccf640b261e4fbcb7d.jpg Display "style =": block; left margin: car; margin-right: car; "title =" HTC U12 + "/> </p>
<h2>  Case and design </h2>
<p>  The HTC U12 + is a solid, solid smartphone in terms of case and design.At the front, we see a screen with Narrow edges around The screen / body ratio of the front is just over 80% .For comparison, the Asus Zenfone 5 (Z) has a ratio of 83.6% and the Huawei P20 Pro has a screen-body ratio of 82 C is a difference, but I do not care at all, at the top we see two cameras.When we go around the device, we see a connection USB C and no connection for a wired headset, unless you have a dongel used. </p>
<p>  <img alt=

The back of this unit is a separate story. for a mirror-back and light-colored.You can comb your hair, convenient, but it's a huge fingerprint magnet.In addition, the material will scratch very quickly, do not put it accidentally only in a pocket with a key or a coin because you have been seen. HTC has been able to make a smartphone that stands out from the rest, although Huawei is also working with such a material. One of the colors in which you can buy the HTC U12 + is blue with a transparent cover, which looks very cool.

In addition, we see the dual cameras that are placed transversely above the flash and the fingerprint sensor and see in the middle we the HTC logo. On the right side we see the volume and the power button and we discuss it later in a separate chapter. The device is also IP68 certified, which means that it is resistant to dust, sand and other debris. In addition, it can survive up to 1.5 meters under water up to 1.5 meters deep

What I still want to point out, is that the HTC U12 + is very heavy with its 188 grams. This is not a problem for me because it is sometimes even nicer.

Screen and Display

The HTC U12 + screen measures 6 inches and is of the Super LCD type. The difference with an AMOLED screen is there but the screen of the HTC U12 + is doing fine. The colors of the screen are "right" and I mean by that they are not exaggerated. There is 119 pixels per inch on the screen when you compare with the Huawei P20 Pro which has an AMOLED display.

I wrote in the intro that the body shows stripes quickly. This also applies to the screen and unlike other brands, there is no standard screen protector on the screen. I wonder why it is not, it is a small effort and a great pleasure for the user. Now, you should warn by buying "buy the same screen protectors otherwise you will regret."

Also, it is also remarkable that this device still uses Gorilla Glass 3 and not Gorilla Glass 5. The latter is on the market for two years now. market and for example the OnePlus 6, Samsung Galaxy S9 and the LG GT ThinQ use Gorilla Glass 5. Did they have a remnant in the factory?

Performance

This device is a flagship and you should also have a flagship chipset. With the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset, the U12 + also has that. The smartphone is fast and incredibly fluid. This eight-core chipset must be able to run in an energy-efficient way, but I have not experienced it at all, we will come back to this in the chapter on the battery.

 HTC U12 + Antutu "src =" https: //cdn3.androidworld .nl / 1cf1425064 / media / thumbnails / 1e / 51 / 1e51f271433a16edbd2172de2690f4ba.png "style =" display: block; left margin: car; right margin: car; "title =" HTC U12 + Antutu "/> </p>
<p>  The test with AnTuTu provides a good score for the HTC U12 +, beating 99% of all devices right now and taking fifth place in the only ASUS ZenFone 5Z, Xiaomi Mi8, OnePLus 6 and the Black Shark Mi precede the camera, but the flagship at the beginning of the year (just). </p>
<p>  The HTC U12 + has 6GB of RAM and this seems to be more than enough for this flagship product.This device has an internal storage of 64 GB and after a week or three daily uses, there is 57% of use and I have almost 27 GB left. I have run about 14GB, of course, the HTC U12 + has a number of tools on board to optimize your memory, for example, by removing downloads. </p>
<p>  <img alt=

Battery

The HTC U12 + battery has a capacity of 3500 mAh and that's a lot, but it's a 6-inch screen I'm disappointed with the performance of this unit when it comes to battery consumption When I work at home all day, I just finish the evening and I do not need to recharge it in the meantime When I'm on the road and listening to music and turning on the hotspot from time to time, I definitely do not arrive at the end of the day, which I find unacceptable for a device that has to represent a flagship product of HTC phone one hour and a half of the charger and has already consumed 15% of battery, how?

 Battery HTC U12 +

The software has a number of functions to save the battery, that I turned off.At first because I want to test how the battery is without the s aids and then because when they are on the application Strava does not save my run and it's just as bad as walking on a lego block with your bare feet. When the battery is empty, you can provide it with new energy via Quick Charge 3.0 with the charger included, you should always carry this charger.

Fingerprint Scanner

He is on him and he does it and works well. As with any other brand, there are situations where it does not work like wet fingers. You can also use Face-unlock to unlock the device and it works equally well. It is possible that I find the HTC U12 + better than that of the OnePlus 6.

HTC Edge Sense 2 and the store of buttons

HTC has paid a lot of attention to the operation of the device. Just like with the HTC U11, you can tighten the side of the HTC device, a feature we also see in the Google Pixel 2. A feature that I can not handle at all.

In addition, the HTC U12 + has more mechanical buttons but sensors on the side. For the form, you always have a surface that looks like a button, but that has only a visual function. This includes sensors that record the touch of the fingers and perform the corresponding action. A nice and logical idea from HTC but unfortunately unfortunately very hard in the run. I've been testing the HTC U12 + for three weeks and every day the device has rebooted at least twice by the pressure that was applied to the buttons while it was in my pocket. During those three weeks I made at least 50 screenshots that I did not want to do at all. In addition, the buttons do not always respond when you want to adjust the volume. Your natural reaction is tighter but that does not help in this case.

 HTC Edge Sense "src =" https://cdn3.androidworld.nl/1cf1425064/media/thumbnails/c9/61/c9610aef92206c653e750cb377596f08. png "style =" display: block; left margin: car; I also had an unhappy marriage with Edge Sense, apparently I caught the phone just a little too hard, which often triggered the compression feature. I was hoping to be able to adjust the pressure you could have on Edge Sense, but apparently this is not possible, a double tap provides a minimized screen that you can use with one hand, which is a good feature, but not 12 times a day. My colleagues in the editor can handle HTC Edge Sense well and that's why I blame myself, I'm too sensitive, or not, so I just disable this feature. </p>
<p>  <img alt=

HTC meanwhile announced that an update will be in place that will adjust the operation of the buttons. I really hope this will happen because it completely ruined my experience with the HTC U12 +.

Sound

HTC has a reputation for sound and it is also the case with this device. The HTC U12 + has stereo speakers and you can hear it when you play music without ear plugs. There is a good balance in the sound and even a decent bass. The sound has a spatial effect and it does not seem like everything comes from a small speaker that has been plugged somewhere to USB-C. Here, HTC really marks points because at this point, many brands leave it.

 Setting the sound on HTC

Things are better when using USB C U-Sonic earphones included HTC has really worked on these wired headphones. settings you can create a profile where the software scans your ears.When the profile is finished, you can use a switch to hear the difference between a profile and not a profile and this difference is really very big. Really well done for HTC in this field. , the HTC U12 + does not have a 3.5mm jack for the headset and when you use the supplied headset, you can not charge your phone while listening to your music.

Camera

The HTC U12 + comes with four cameras, two There is a lot of work in the photography section, so you can use HDR Boost 2 at the front and back This technique already makes a number of photos before taking a picture yourself. This can make a number

The 12-megapixel rear camera allows you to take pictures with the wide-angle function and is equipped with the HTC UltraPixel 4 so that more light enters the pixel and so the pictures in a bad light better. The f / 1.75 aperture also helps. The second camera at the back has 16 megapixels and serves primarily to bring distant objects closer together. The aperture of this camera is f / 2.6 and it is much higher than that of the other camera.

The front has two 8 megapixel cameras with an aperture of f / 2.0 with which you, as with cameras at the back, can take pictures of bokeh. In addition, we see a little of the software we see in others. Among other things, the opportunity to make you look smarter than you actually are, the ability to take a panoramic picture with the front cameras and so on.

In addition, the camera has the UltraSpeed ​​Autofocus 2 works with facial recognition and laser. There is a 2x optical zoom and a 10x digital zoom on the camera to bring everything far away. An idle function is completely in the moment and of course the HTC U12 + also has it at 240 frames per second in 1080p.

In the field of video, we see that this camera can record in 4K and that's only what you can do when you can play in 4K. Much attention was paid to the sound during the video. When you start recording, you can indicate where the sound you want to record is coming from so that the camera only focuses. They call it Audio Boost and we also find 3D audio recording and Sonic Zoom. The cameras have optical image stabilization (OIS) and electronic image stabilization (EIS). This should prevent as much as possible the annoying agitation of the image.

Photos

 HTC U12 + photo "src =" https://cdn3.androidworld.nl/1cf1425064/media/thumbnails/be/c9/bec96ae7235b41e38f03799e247f9c42.jpg "style =" display: block; left margin: car; right margin: car; "title =" HTC U12 + photo "/> </p>
<p>  The above photo was taken at 21:30 at night on a clear day.On the screen when printing the camera seems to exaggerate the color white, but it falls into the final result. </p>
<p>  <a class=  View of the day HTC U12 +

The picture above was taken in the morning and of good quality. 39, enlarging the photo, the details remain clearly visible.The camera focuses on the leaves and not on the duck.

  Night photo HTC U12 +

The photo below above was taken at night with the HTC U12 +

  Compare with HTC U12 + "src =" https: //cdn3.androidworld.nl/1cf1425064/media/thumbnails/20/7f/207f732bdf15fce1865d706cfc4c5390.jpg "title =" Compare with HTC U12 + "/> </em> </p>
<p style= The picture above was taken at night with the Huawei Mate Pro

Videos

Camera App

L & # 39; ap Plication for the camera on the camera is complete and well organized. Via the menu button at the top right, you enter the menu before you can choose the Pro mode. Where many others opt for sliders and other difficult things, they keep HTC on a number of buttons along the side of the screen with which you can adjust the settings. In the menu above, you can also activate the hyperlapse (long recording in which you experience for example the sun, slow motion and other effects) and there is a settings button that allows you to control the sound of the camera recording button. Face filters with which you can put a "funny" filter on your face, like in Snapchat and Instagram Stories, see as a bonus.

 HTC U12 + filter in the camera "src =" https: // cdn3.androidworld.nl/1cf1425064/media/thumbnails/2d/0b/2d0b4b00c879bed9f55d94c43c0bc086.jpg "style =" display: block; left margin: car; right margin: car; "title =" HTC U12 + filter in the camera "/> </p>
<h2>  Software </h2>
<p>  HTC uses a skin on top of the Android standard, this skin has become much quieter over the years and is better use, as I say in most magazines, a skin that you get used to.It is best to live with% of these extra layers on Android.C Sense, with the exception of a few cosmetic items. </p>
<p>  Of course, there are some additional applications that are placed there with the best of intentions, so we have the HTS Sense Companion and News Republic that you can put back to the factory version but do not delete it. "Under Armor's" Record "application is clearly bloatware because Under Armor will pay a lot to get it as standard on all HTC smartphones.Luckily, you can delete it. </p>
<p>  <img alt=

Features Additional

The HTC U12 + has a number of additional features, facial recognition that we talked about earlier with the fingerprint sensor. 19659012] Policy Update

We received the following statement from HTC in the area of ​​updates: "HTC has a proven track record of providing our users with the latest Android experience, especially when compared to the competition. In terms of future years of upgrades, it all depends on the system requirements of future Android systems and our hardware performance evaluation. In previous flagships, we have made two major operating system upgrades in two years. The HTC 10 (2016 flagship) even got the update from Android 8 earlier this year, while almost none of the 2016 competitor's flagships had been upgraded to Android 8 until Now. Regarding security updates, we review our rate of updates and share this timeline once confirmed.

What HTC is saying here is that when it can provide a device with new versions, can not find a "rhythm" when that is the most important thing The HTC U12 + works at the time of the Writing on the security update of Mars and Android 8.0 Oreo

Conclusion

This review gave me blood, sweat and tears I had not had any HTC device has been in the hands for several years and that's why it's been a kind of renewed brand knowledge, and I know how difficult it is for the company to stay upright and it depends a lot of this device.I end this review with mixed feelings: on the one hand, the HTC U12 + is a well-built and robust smartphone that works well with the skin on Android.Evole of the battery will probably live with when you modify all the software.

I've also been annoyed for weeks by the & # 39; impossibility to manage the device. There were always things that I did not want. Continually, I did screen shots, the device restarted several times a day because I had apparently hit a button again, and then I got it again minimized the screen. At one point, I was holding the HTC U12 + as a precious piece of porcelain that I'd been told at & # 39; Between Art and Kitsch & # 39; that it was worth 100,000 euros.

HTC has promised an update for the hardware buttons and it will probably solve a lot of problems. In addition, after much research and plowing, there will be something to do, but it should not be like that? A product of more than 800 euros must always be easy to use. When I have a problem, what about people who just want to buy a good device? Again, I guess the update will correct that, I always stay positive.

Positive Points

+ Scenery

+ Unlocking the Face

+ Camera

+ Sound

Negative Points

– Fast Material Stripes

– Hardware Buttons Do Not Work Properly (update is available) before)

– The device is too sensitive to touch

Buy HTC U12 +

The HTC U12 Plus is available in stores for a suggested retail price of € 799.99 and is available in the colors Ceramic Black, Flame Red and Translucent Blue The device is for sale in Belsimpel and via the following online shops

Reviews HTC U12 Plus

Rating: [19659082] 3.00 / 5

mail to the author of this article!

[ad_2]
Source link